April 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s
decision to proceed with hearings on a 20-year license extension
for Entergy Corp.’s Pilgrim nuclear power plant was appealed by
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Coakley’s appeal, filed in the U.S. Appeals Court in
Boston, challenged the commission’s decision to go ahead before
considering lessons from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in
Japan, according to a statement from her office today.

“The NRC needs to understand the lessons learned from
Fukushima and apply those lessons to Pilgrim before granting the
plant a 20-year license extension,” Coakley said. An earthquake
and tsunami wrecked Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi station last year, causing radiation leaks.

Pilgrim’s license is scheduled to expire June 8, 40 years
after it was issued, according to the NRC’s website. The plant
in Plymouth, Massachusetts, can generate 685 megawatts,
according to NRC data. That’s enough to power about 550,000
average U.S. homes, based on Energy Department data.

The NRC rejected Coakley’s contention, affirming its
general stance that post-Fukushima rules will apply to all
plants and shouldn’t be considered in relicensing, Neil Sheehan,
a commission spokesman, said today in an interview.

NRC Rules

Under NRC rules, Entergy can continue to operate the
reactor after the license officially expires, Sheehan said.
Because Entergy applied to renew the license more than five
years before expiration, the plant can stay open so long as
there are unresolved disputes over the renewal, Sheehan said.

Several environmental groups have raised new issues with
the plant operation that must be reviewed, he said.

A spokeswoman for New Orleans-based Entergy didn’t
immediately return a message seeking comment.

The appeal is Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First
Circuit (Boston).